Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay Per Click (ppc)

Pay Per Click, or PPC, is a form of paid advertising on the Internet where the advertiser (ie you) only pays the provider (Google) when someone actually clicks on your advertisement and actually visits your website, hence the term, 'pay per click'. Potentially (and every provider is a little different), every time someone clicks on your ad, you then have to pay the provider whatever the “click thru” price is at the time. For most providers, the price you pay for each click thru is largely determined by the competitors advertising for that phrase, with each of them bidding against the rest, on how much they are willing to pay to have their advert display before or above another competitor’s ad.

The amount you pay then is determined by how much everyone is prepared to pay to have their ad displayed before another competitor’s or you, ad. So the pricing is entirely market driven, but the advertisement is potentially able to be extremely specifically targeted. In fact, ppc is probably the most demand led and targeted form of advertising that has ever existed.

Most Pay Per Click providers also allow you to set budgets for each ad, per day and per month, so you have a lot of control.

Because of this PPC can be a very successful and easy to understand form of advertising, and principally because the cost v benefit is easy to see, it has become very popular, and turned some providers (like Google) into major advertising income generators.

Pay per click was not invented by Google. In fact, it was invented by a company called Goto.com in 1998, which later changed its name to Overture. Overture was eventually taken over by Yahoo, but originally all the major search engines, including Google, used the Overture PPC service.

Freetimers was using PPC for our clients from 1998, and because we were one of the first to use it, it was very cheap then. Google introduced its version of ppc, Google Adwords in 2000 and Freetimers was a very early user. We therefore have loads of experience, and are expert users of Google Adwords in particular.

Pay Per Click is now sometimes a very sophisticated advertising tool, but it can be very expensive, usually in our experience 5 to 20 times more expensive than using SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Nevertheless, PPC can be very successful if well managed and properly set up. Also, unlike SEO, PPC is immediately available, and can be set up and used in a single day. SEO is an ongoing process that can be much more successful than PPC, however the search engines, and Google in particular, put delays on SEO and the speed by which top rankings can be achieved, specifically to encourage you to use PPC so you can get a more immediate return. Because of this, many web marketing professionals would agree that is actually a war between Google and SEO specialists because Google wants you to use PPC, so it makes money, and not use SEO where it doesn’t. For you, as a website owner, you may want to use both.

PPC and Marketing Strategy

PPC and primarily in its Google Adwords form, should be a consideration in any modern marketing campaign. When it is used, where it is used, and how it is used, is a matter of strategy and budget and could potentially be different for every business.

Freetimers are experts not only in using PPC and Google Adwords, but in determining with you how it should be used in relation to SEO, and in relation to your goals and available budget. We can help you with anything from very limited small local campaigns to great big UK or worldwide campaigns using thousands of keyword phrases. We currently manage campaigns with budget levels of many £k each month very successfully.

If you would like to discuss your PPC or Google Adwords campaigns, don’t hesitate to contact our web marketing department on 01604 628429.